Telecommunication devices, such as radiotelephones, have become increasingly popular for both personal and commercial use. The increased popularity of these devices in combination with the now low cost and high function of available integrated circuit technology has caused radiotelephones to become miniaturized to facilitate storage and portability. Indeed, some contemporary radiotelephone terminal models are less than 10 centimeters in length.
As radiotelephones become smaller, less area is available for keypads, buttons, or similar input mechanisms which are used to control a radiotelephone device. These input mechanisms typically provide for data entry as well as control of any multi-media interface (MMI). For ergonomic reasons, there is a limit below which it is undesirable to decrease the size and spacing of buttons and keys, especially keys within a keypad. One solution is to require keys to perform more than one function, as in so-called “soft keys”. However, the more functions assigned to multi-function keys, the more difficult and confusing a radiotelephone terminal becomes to use.